When celebrating a milestone as significant as the 500 millionth of a product, it would seem anti-climactic to just let it pop off the assembly line and stick it in a box. Zippo made a pretty grand event out of honoring its 500 millionth lighter by involving all 620 of the company’s employees in its manufacturing.

The Zippo lighter that Mark has carried around the world with him for the last 30 years just wasn’t working like it used to. (I would say that it “lost its zip,” but that’s a stale pun and The Consumerist is far too dignified for that kind of thing.) He theorized that the reason could be the off-brand flints and fuel that he purchased for it locally. Zippo’s representative agreed, and to test that theory, sent him some free genuine Zippo brand fuel and flints in the mail immediately. “You’re probably the ‘most-best’ company in the world!” Mark wrote back to them.